What Is an ASP File? Files created with Active Server Pages have the extension .ASP. This story is an example; take a look at the address above. With ASP files, you can activate your Web site using any combination of HTML, scripting such as JavaScript or Visual Basic?

Is It Hard to Use? I don't know about you, but whenever people start talking about doing things on the server, I start to get nervous. I think a lot about threading issues, synchronization, and generally stuff without a user interface. I assume it's going to be hard to do. Well, using ASP is about as easy as anything I've come across in years.

Aw, Mom. Not Another Object Model! I really hate doing this to you, but I'm going to have to use that overused and overcomplex term "object model" again. Here's how it works. When a browser requests an ASP file from your Web server, your Web server calls Active Server Pages to read through the ASP file, executing any of the commands contained within and sending the resulting HTML page to the browser.

The utter importance of good design is difficult to overstate. Design can and will make or break a website. While this little fact may seem self-evident to many people, it is a surprisingly easy fact to overlook, especially at a time when free web design software or templates are available to anyone with passing interest. Such tools are great for encouraging more people to use the Internet and develop new skills, however, if you are looking to establish a 'serious' presence for you or your organization you will be best served by finding someone with the education, tools, and talent that go into good design. The look and feel of your website is a reflection of your entire business. The more professional your website navigates, reads, and looks, the more professional your organization will appear to the person doing the navigating, reading, and looking.

If the navigation is needlessly confusing, the look 'off' or immature, or the content lousy, the conversion from visitor to customer is far less likely to take place. There is an abundance of literature on the web regarding what constitutes good design, and why good design is so important. An excellent place to go, however, for views and information on good web design is to the designers themselves. Online forums are not good for everything, but web designers use them a lot, and much of what follows on good design is based upon forum posts from web designers on just this topic. One web designer pointed out that it takes around 50 milliseconds for a visitor to decide whether or not they like a website. This seems like a rather short amount of time, and it is.